President Trump moved to strike a diesel fuel deal with Russia after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ignored a half-dozen U.S. demands to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, a U.S. official with direct knowledge told Axios.
Why it’s important: The deal between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has sparked a new crisis with Ukraine and threatens to derail a new Trump administration push for a deal to end the war.
- “Zelensky is misreading the situation. By continuing to hit refineries, he is eroding the goodwill he has built with Trump over the past six months,” the US official said.
- Zelensky, in an interview with Axios after the announcement, said he was blindsided by the deal, which he called “neither fair nor honest” and an unwarranted gift to Putin.
Driving the news: Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries in recent months have been very effective and have caused an energy crisis in Russia.
- In response, Russia imposed a ban on diesel exports, which added even more pressure to global diesel markets, strained by the war in Iran.
- Zelensky told Trump and his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner that he was prepared to stop attacking Russian oil refineries if the Russians stopped their attacks on Ukrainian power plants.
- The U.S. official said Trump wanted Ukraine to unilaterally stop attacking Russian refineries because the strikes were contributing to rising U.S. gas prices.
- Trump does not view attacks on refineries as equivalent to Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, the U.S. official said.
Inside the room: During eight hours of talks Friday in Miami, Witkoff and Kushner told a team of Ukrainian negotiators that the president should talk to Putin and lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports.
- They were told Trump decided to move forward after Ukraine ignored several demands to end strikes against Russian oil refineries, which directly affected U.S. consumers.
- A Ukrainian official claimed that during the discussions, Witkoff and Kushner threatened that Trump could cut Ukraine off from U.S. intelligence services if they continued to ignore his demands.
- The U.S. official denied such a threat had been made and said Witkoff and Kushner had told the Ukrainians that the United States was a strong partner, providing munitions and intelligence. Ukraine should therefore not take actions that could harm U.S. consumers, Witkoff and Kushner said.
- “The attacks on refineries cause suffering to Russia, but they also cause suffering to the United States,” the American official said.
Zoom: The official said the new crisis over the diesel deal erupted after U.S. mediators held constructive discussions with Ukrainian and European diplomats in Miami on Friday.
- The main goal was to finalize the security guarantees that the United States, Europe and NATO would provide to Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war.
- New proposals for territorial solutions were also raised.
- Witkoff and Kushner laid out a postwar agenda for Ukraine that included ways to finance reconstruction and rebuild Ukraine’s military, as well as ideas for how to deal with budget deficits resulting from the war.
- Participants also discussed a road map for Ukraine’s EU membership and Ukraine’s relationship with NATO after the end of the war.
- Additionally, Witkoff and Kushner raised the possibility of a postwar security framework between Europe and Russia that could please both sides.
What to watch: Witkoff and Kushner briefed the Ukrainians and Europeans on potential energy deals with Russia that the United States hopes will lower energy prices and prompt Russia to make concessions in peace talks, the U.S. official said.
What’s next: The U.S. official said Witkoff and Kushner plan to travel to Moscow and kyiv next week to discuss peace proposals, but it is unclear how Friday’s explosion will affect their plans.
- “Putin is hitting (Ukraine) hard, but we think he is open to a discussion about ending the war. We want to work on a new proposal that will be good enough for him to get him to stop,” the US official said.
Yes, but: During his 90-minute phone call with Trump, Putin refused to commit to resuming peace talks with Ukraine, his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters.
- He said Ukrainian strikes on Moscow and other cities during Russia’s parliamentary elections “thwarted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiation process.”
- “The president said: we will think about when these negotiations can resume,” Ushakov added.
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